Education is key to unlock potential

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."-- Nelson Mandela

Unfortunately for Erie, many have not had access to this weapon. But that might be about to change.

Some of the more sobering statistics in the Erie Vital signs data are in the area of educational attainment. Data from Vital Signs indicate that 41.8 percent of adults 25 and older in Erie have a high school degree or GED as their highest level of educational attainment in 2011, the latest year available. This compares to a benchmark average of 26.5 percent for the other communities that Erie is being measured against.

The low educational attainment rates are just one of the reasons that Peggy McCarthy has been tasked with directing the Erie Regional Education and Training Consortium.

The Erie Regional Education and Training Consortium is a collaborative effort of the four Erie County university presidents, the Northwest Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center, the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, the Erie School District, the Erie County Technical School and the Manufacturer & Business Association. The Erie Community Foundation also awarded $40,000 to the Chamber to help fund the project. The consortium could, ideally, provide similar services to what a community college would provide.

"The idea is if we have a knowledge-based workforce here, then we can attract new businesses to come, (then) we're going to employ the people who need to be employed and we're going to raise up our college attainment rate, which eventually will help our economy and hopefully it will decrease poverty in our region," said McCarthy, who is the director of continuing education at Penn State Behrend and director of the Erie Regional Education and Training Consortium. "An option is not to continue on the way we've been doing it."

McCarthy may be the perfect person to take on the role of director. This is not her first rodeo. McCarthy was the first Executive Director of the Corry Higher Educational Council, which is an initiative that was started in 1991 to improve access to training and education for Corry-area adults.

The Corry Higher Educational Council is just one model that McCarthy is considering when developing the Erie Regional Education and Training Consortium. Similar programs have also been developed in the Philadelphia area (Graduate Philadelphia) and Louisville, Ky. (Degrees At Work).

"We're going to take a little bit of this model and a little bit of that and put it together, and find what's right for Erie and what will be supported," McCarthy said.

The ultimate goal of the consortium is to increase the number of people that pursue postsecondary education, which will ultimately benefit the workforce and the economy. A variety of different educational paths will be offered, and the education will be at an affordable rate. Interested persons could use the consortium to take a course, pursue a certificate, associate degree or bachelor's degree.

"For some people, (a technical class) may be enough. For others they say, hey that's great and that leads me into an associate degree program. It's a pipeline," said Mike Batchelor, president of The Erie Community Foundation.

Also, when the consortium is finalized, it could be feasible for employers to pay to have employees enroll in a program through the consortium to get more training or learn more skills.

According to McCarthy, the consortium should have more specifics outlined by summer. It's unknown at this time if the consortium will be housed at a particular building or what the project will be called once it launches; the name Erie Regional Education and Training Consortium could remain or it could take on a whole new name.

Yet while the project still may be in its infancy, McCarthy sees it as the first step to a tangible solution for Erie's educational attainment rates.

"We do not intend to be an educational provider. This is about bringing the educational providers together. It's our best hope right now in Erie," McCarthy said. "If you put yourself in the mind of the people we're trying to reach, how daunting is it to think 'I want to go back to school, but I'm afraid I can't do it, I don't have the money, I don't know what to go into, and I don't know what jobs are out there?' That's what this entity needs to provide."

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."-- Nelson Mandela